Five loaves and two fish . . .

Hi everyone,
I know I have taken some days off from writing, but I needed time to gather my thoughts and spend time in prayer. Because we are going through this process in a "quick" fassion, some days I need to slow down, and make sure I am drawing near to Him. In doing that, all seems to be refocused for me, and I can actually think more clearly again. We have had many friends with excellent ideas of how to raise more funds for this journey and we want to thank everyone. Please know that we wish they all worked out, but sometimes His plan is different than ours, and we are trusting that there is a reason for each persons heart being affected and wanting to help, but it isn't always going to be the way we think. I do believe He is calling His church as a whole to become more aware of orphans, and how you can be part of rescuing them even if not in your own home, but adopting them into His family, the church. . . and He has sent us on this mission for a purpose. I know that we are so blessed by the lovingkindness of others each time we hear from them. Everyones prayers are being heard and encouraging and strengthening us. We truly believe God knows the timing of when the funds are coming, and how, and we need to trust in that. Please continue to share with us, all ideas and contacts because we believe He uses these opportunities for us to share our story which may in turn be a testamony we were meant to share. ;0)

The newest updates would be:

SPAGHETTI LUNCHEON now being organized. Donations needed for silent auction, and dessert table. The event is Saturday, April 10th, at the First United Methodist Church of Brewer, and there will be 2 seating times, 1:00 and 2:30. We are preselling tickets due to the 2 seating times, at $5.00 each. We hope the silent auction and desserts will bring in extra donations. We could use people who want to help with serving and cleaning up as well. Just give me an email or a call. If you want to purchase tickets, you can do that through this site if you want, just make sure you tell us which seating time you want, and we can send tickets, or hold them in your name at the door. I am really excited to just spend time being surrounded by friends and family who want to support us and Krystyna.

FAMILY PHOTO'S is in the works. We do not have a date or time yet. It will be by donations and you will get a disk you can take to Walmart or home and print the ones you love the most. If you are interested, drop us an email and we will put your name on the notification list for appointments.

YARD SALE will be happening when weather is better in Bangor, but we are more than happy to pick up donations if you have something you want to donate and need it out of your house now.

BOTTLES AND CANS add up! JR Redemption Center in Brewer on your way to Calvary Just after the old Brewer Fire Dept., across from Cowans gas station, have set up an account in support of bringing Krystyna home. They have a big poster in their window, so you will know you are at the right place. Just tell them you are donating for the "adoption fund" and they will take care of it. They are a wonderful family who just want to help. We will also come pick them up, just let us know. One Saturday we went to 4 peoples homes and turned in 27.00 worth of cans. It really does help.

I guess that is all for updates at this time. I am going to ask you to pray for our son David, because he has a huge desire to go to the Ukraine and stay to work in the Orphanages this summer. We are going to ask some missionary friends from Maine that have been doing just that for years if it is possible. Jon and I will need to take two trips, so it is possible he could go with us, then stay, and then come home when we go back in 3-5 weeks to pick Krystyna up. I wish the family could all go and stay that long, but Jon's job will not allow that much time. We found out that Jon and I need to go for two weeks. Then we will have to wait from 3-5 weeks for all Krystyna's paperwork to be fixed and completed and then we go back for 1 week and bring her home. Not what we were hoping for, but God will use it for His purpose.

The title today, 5 loaves and 2 fish was because that Scripture really hit me Tuesday. I thought about how what we think isn't enough, God can make work. Sometimes we can also think "we" aren't good enough for a mission. The thing that really stuck in my mind though was just thinking about "bread" being the Word of God. I just kept visualizing someone who is blessed with knowing it, sharing bits and pieces to the crowd of people who were so "hungry" and in need of "food." In Mark 6:37 Jesus said, "You feed them." to His disciples. They replied with "With what?" and Jesus says, "How much do you have? Go and find out." They find out they have 5 loaves and 2 fish and we know the story how they sit in groups, etc. Jesus looked up to heaven and asked God's blessing on the food. It is God's blessing on His Word that multiplied the bread and fish. 5,000 men, not to mention woman and children, had eaten from "how much do you have,(5 loaves and 2 fish).

So, I guess the question I am pondering and hope you do as well is, "How much do You have? Go and find out." What have you been blessed with that God wants you to offer freely to others. We can be sent out on missions to a "hungry" world, locally or far away. I pray the Lord will bless our trip and daily life in the same way He blessed Jesus's prayer on the food. I pray we will all be used to advance His Kingdom here on earth.

I hope that made some sense. Just thought I would share it.
Wishing you and your families a blessed day.

PRAYER . . .

Prayer is the greatest gift we can give to anyone. Of course, if someone needs food, clothes, and a place to live, those needs must be met. But in giving that way, we mustn't neglect to pray for them as well. Material things are temporary, but our prayers for another person can affect them for a lifetime.

Today this was the prayer of the day in my Stormie Omartian calendar. What a great reminder for us all. As you continue to bless us with your prayers for Krystyna and our family, here are some photo's of her orphanage in the Ukraine. It isn't about the "material things" from our family, but it is about her knowing the love we can give, and knowing the love of Jesus.

Hope that is in me . . .

Today, I am up and the sun is shining. We had a busy day of meeting with International Adoption Agency and Homeland Security. We had lots of questions answered and our paperwork is moving forward. We spoke with a woman who has been trying to adopt since 2006, and was to be finally leaving March 10th to go get her child. Her previous country had closed and other circumstances had changed the direction of her path.

Everything for Krystyna's adoption has been going quite quickly so far. We are verifying all information and contacts, and it was reassuring when Homeland Security explained why we had to do one extra form, other friends did not do until they were in the country the child was coming from. It all has to do with her critical age of 16! If we had not listened and filed these forms when asked, she would no longer be available to come to the United States. Thank you Lord for giving us a peace about submitting those documents on time.

I love the prayer of the day from Stormie today. Even though it is posted on the side, I want to share it here as well. It says:

Lord, help me to serve You the way You want me to. Reveal to me any area of my life where I should be giving to someone right now. Open my eyes to see the need. Give me a generous heart to give to the poor. Help me to be a good steward of the blessings You have given me by sharing what I have with others. Use me to touch the lives of others with the hope that is in me.


That is my prayer for today and always. Help us Lord to be focused on others and not self. Keep our hearts open that we may have compassion and love for others, our eyes open, that we may see the needs all around, and our ears open, to hear their cry for help and Your guidance in how to act. Help us to be good stewards of what You have given us in a way that pleases You. Thank you for all you have blessed me with, and I pray that Krystyna has hope, as she waits on us to bring her home.

Have a great, sunny, blessed day!

Praise YOU in this storm . . .

I love that song! Although we had a week or more of some tough trials, God is so faithful to give us Himself, to strengthen, and teach us along the way. We are never alone . . . and that is such a wonderful feeling. I pray that for Krystyna, that she would come to know that comfort and love.

We are on our way around to collect bottles and cans today. We have our doctor appointments to fill out all the paperwork for our dossier. We were totally blessed when a person from Jon's run at work phoned this morning asking more information to share with their church. It just goes to show exactly what the Lord has been putting on my heart, and others we are speaking with. It is His church, not "a" church that He calls to help the widows and orphans, and if more people realize that we are a much bigger family when we come together for the good of those who love Him, wow, what a difference we could make! We have found that by us having this "need" and not being able to fill it on our own, we find ourselves sharing our story and what God has done in our lives with more and more people. I pray we do this anyway, just because it is right, and good to praise the LORD.

We now have a great friend who is willing to work with us and take family or individual photo's for a fund raising event. I think it will be in March, but we have more things to figure out. Please keep checking to see where we are with it. We will be signing people up for appointment times soon. Let us know if you are interested. Her work is very beautiful!

I will start a list, and phone people in the order I receive them to book your times. It will be on a Saturday. Thank you Shannon, your name is on the list!

We are 465.00 away from our next immediate goal, as we head to Portland on Friday for our USCIS appointment. Thank you for all your prayers and help. We also got to send our first letter and box off to Krystyna, and I can't wait to hear back from her.

Grace and Peace and a blessed day to you all!

Valentine's Day . . . What is Love?

Today I thought back to a study I did when we were in the process of adopting the first time. Love, everyone thinks it is a feeling . . . but it is so much more.

Romans 12:9-10
"Don't just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other."

One of my Bible study books had notes that said:
"Most of us have learned how to be courteous to others - how to speak kindly, avoid hurting their feelings, and appear to take an interest in them. We may even be skilled in pretendng to show compassion when we hear of others needs or to become indignant when we learn of injustice. But God calls us to real and sincere love that goes far beyond being hypocritical and polite. Sincere love requires concentration and effort. It means helping others become better people. It demands our time, money and personal involvement."

We also wrote down another note, and I can't remember where this one came from. It said:

real love is not simply meant to make us feel good - rather to motivate us to respond in ways that make us emulate God's goodness.

Love- motivates us to respond, requires concentration and effort, demands our time, money and personal involvement. It is this kind of love that motivated us to step out to do all we can to join Krystyna to our family. It is this kind of love that has blessed our family in so many ways. It is this kind of love that we will continue to celebrate, - Christ like love!

I am thankful for the love of my husband, my children and my family and friends.

Happy Valentine's Day! Please keep loving Krystyna in this way, and help bring her home safely and quickly. Thank you for your prayers and support.

MOVING ALONG FAST . . .

I hope we can keep up . . . today we found out our home study is going to be completed next week. We have medical appointments on Thursday to get all documents and blood tests started. We are driving to Gardiner to pick up final copy of study on our way to Portland for our meeting with Homeland Security and fingerprinting! Praise God that all this has worked out for Jon on his vacation, so he will not need to take unpaid time off. Yay! We need to keep saving all these pennies ya know. ;0)

The excitement of us traveling by June is awesome, but that makes the fundraising a bit more intense. I hope yard sale weather comes soon. I believe we will have to wait a bit longer though. Again, if you have anything to donate, please let us know. Any other ideas will be appreciated. We know God has a plan and has chosen certain people to be part of this, some who don't even know it yet, but we don't want to sit around with idle hands, we want to do all we can to earn money to bring her home. We are still praying this will be a family missions trip, and that we can all afford to go. If anyone feels they want to join us, give us a call. Let's see what God is going to do.

Now I get to go put a box together to send over to her. I need to pray about what to put in the letter. Pray for words of comfort and hope. Thanks for taking this journey with us. We love you all!

Darts!!!

Today is Friday, and I am so thankful Jon is on vacation next week. We know that when we step out in faith, "strange things" just seem to happen to distract us from His work. We have had things breaking and many other challenges this past week. I am thankful to friends for the prayers and support, and I am looking forward to a great night out with Jon tomorrow at the church dinner for married couples. We are having some things moving with the adoption, and I will post later if I have some definite dates of upcoming events. Waiting on an email still. Here is the Scripture for today:

1 John 3:21-22

Dear friends, if we don't feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from Him whatever we ask because we obey Him and do the things that please Him.

Wisdom from Proverbs 16!

I enjoy the book of Proverbs. They can bring comfort and conviction. Today it was comfort. ;0)

We can make our own plans,
but the LORD gives the right answer. (Prov.16:1)

Commit your actions to he LORD,
and your plans will succeed. (Prov. 16:3)

We can make our plans,
but the LORD determines our steps. (Prov. 16:9)

How much better to get wisdom than gold,
and good judgement than silver! (Prov. 16:16)

We may throw the dice,
but the LORD determines how they fall. (Prov. 16:33)

God is seldom early, but NEVER late!

I keep hearing those words my husband heard on the radio and has repeated to me numerous times since we stepped out to adopt Krystyna. "God is seldom early, but NEVER late." We want to Praise HIM, and thank everyone for your part in bringing Krystyna out of her dangerous future, and into our home, our "family", our community. We have made it through phase 1, raising money for homeland security forms and documents, phase 2, the first payments to the Ukraine, when today we went over our $1000 goal for this week. Now we move on to phase 3, which is $2500 for homestudy and next Ukraine payment in March. We can't thank you enough for your prayers and support. We are still open to doing anything we can to earn funds for this journey. If you have bottles and cans you would like picked up, please let us know. I also can make some pretty cute children's birthday cakes that taste great. We hope to do a big yard sale in Bangor when weather is better, but if you have any items to donate, let us know. We are going to keep changing the "Chip In" section on this site as each phase changes. That way it is more accurate, and up to date to the needs and time frame.

Again, thank you so much and keep the faith! We have been abundantly blessed by your support. We will continue to move forward doing His will, and hopefully bring her home as soon as possible.

Grace and Peace!

Putting our Hope in You, LORD . . .

What a day. Just as an update, we now have $700 of the $1000 needed this week. Praise God. I truly hope people know how blessed we are that you are willing to step out on this mission with us. I hope this blesses you as much as it blesses us. Each time I get more photo's of her, and see her personality coming out, and hear stories of what she enjoyed doing while she visited for such a short time in the US, I know she is our future daughter. Here are some photo's of her mini golfing, sitting by a campfire making s'mores, and playing on the computer at the library. Precious child of God . . . we are praying for you every day! We hope to meet you soon.

1 Peter 5:7-9

The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. (1 Peter 5:7-9)

Jon and I spent the day in great fellowship with friends yesterday. After a morning of worship and study, we were blessed by sharing a meal with our friends who have adopted internationally. It is wonderful to be around others who have the same passion and love for orphans and children in general. We had to hurry to get to the adoption meeting at 4:00 and then were blessed with a chance to welcome home another family with their new daughter from Ethiopia. I found out they live really close to us, so a new play date is in the works.

To top off such a wonderful day, when I got online last night, I found out we had a $500 donation and was overwhelmed. I just don't have the words to express how blessed I am by others obedience to hearing the Lord asking them to be involved in bringing Krystyna home, or just the love they feel towards her or our family. I am constantly reminded that HE (God) can remove these barriers that just seem so huge to us. I continue to feel like the people of Israel doubting and questioning, how? And then at other moments I have such faith and trust and confidence in our Lord, even when I can't see how. I want that belief all the time! So, I continue to draw near to HIM and ask Him to pour out His Spirit on me every moment of every day. "I will seek Him in the morning, and learn to walk in Your ways, and step by step You'll lead me, and I will follow you all of my day."

Blessing from New Friends . . .

Jon and I are both so thankful that Krystyna's host family she stayed with for a week in North Carolina have been such a blessing to us. They continue to share stories, as well as photo's. They are helping us connect to a young lady we have never met. We are getting a package ready to send to her and wanted to know if she liked any special candy? Here is the photo they sent. I love it! It shows her sense of humor as well. ;0)




We go to the Quiverful Adoption and Orphan Care meeting at church today. This is always a blessing because it is a time to hear others journey's as well as pray about current adoptions in process. Please continue to pray that Lord willing, the funds we need will come in as needed. We also are looking for items to be donated for a silent auction as well. I will leave you with another of her new photo's we received. I can tell her host family she was blessed to meet gave her a very special visit here in the USA.

Grace and Peace to you today . . .

Passport Day . . .

Well, today Jon and I went and got our passports. We were there when they opened and didn't have to wait too long. ;0) Now Jon is second guessing if he filled in all the blanks on his form or not. I would think the man who looked it all over would have seen something missing, or at least I hope so. Now we track them to see how long they will take.

Even though the world keeps on spinning, we seem to have a peace about this process. It is so out of our control. All we know is the Lord keeps lining us up with people who can help or have information to share about Ukraine. We are going to keep our eyes focused on the Lord and see what He wants to do with us or through us. We pray Krystyna is His plan, but if for some reason things are not meant to be, we know He is preparing us for some adoption plan.

Jon and I are going to a really funny movie tonight about "Laughing your way to a better marriage." It was really funny last week. Looking forward to a great time of fellowship.

Thank you for all your support and prayers.

Jon and Linda

ACCEPTED!!!

Yesterday was one of those days of ups and downs. So, I will share the ups! ;0)
In the afternoon, Matt brought in the mail, and there were two envelopes from homeland security. It was our I-797C forms saying they opened the file to bring Krystyna to the US as a member of our family. We are her last chance here, and because this file was opened before her birthday . . . she can stay in the orphanage for a limited amount of time past her birthday.

We also woke today to more email from the Ukraine, saying now we can send her gifts and letters at the orphanage. They recommend sending something right away. The orphanage has a say in her being adopted during the court proceedings from what I understand. If you want to be part of blessing this girl with some fun gifts like hair items, socks, clothes, shoes, stickers, etc. just let us know. Also, most of you know we are counting on the Lord to move mountains with the finances needed to finish His process. We need to send a check to the Ukraine ASAP for $1000 to begin the official papers, hopefully within a week if possible. We were told she can get private English tutoring if we want to pay for that extra help for her. I don't know if there is someone out there that feels moved to give this gift to her, but if so, just contact us and let us know. All we can do is put out the opportunities, and see if the Lord calls anyone to respond.

We want to thank everyone for everything, from prayer, to words of encouragement, to donations. We are blessed with great families, both biological and "adopted." We love you all.

Psalm 29:4
The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

A Visit to her orphanage . . .

I woke to a new email from our facilitator in the Ukraine. I have spoken with others who have adopted using his services, and I am told he is a strong Christian man, and we will be blessed by his help and friendship along this road. He went to the orphanage where Krystyna is yesterday, to help another family adopt a different child. We understood that she will not know about us until certain papers are filed, and we feel good about that, just in case, but oh how we wished we could look through his eyes into her face yesterday. Here is what he wrote:


I was in the orphanage yesterday.... Kristina came up to me and asked how things were.... i explained to her that families that hosted her cannot adopt her.... she almost started to cry.... she said she has no idea where she will go once the orphanage asks her to leave after she ages out.... so I felt I had to calm her down and said another family is really interested in you, they have filed initial paperwork and we're pushing from all sides that it is accepted, which made her very happpy. She is so sweet, i can't even tell you! So i had to tell her something and because I will not be in the orphanage for some time - I did not want to tell her over the phone later.... anyway, let's hope and pray for the best!

Please continue to join us in prayer for this child. We want God's will, and believe it is for her to come be with us. Please feel free to keep posting and sharing whatever He leads you to. If you want to help with fundraising, please let me know what you are willing to do. We are humble and willing to do whatever we can to help bring her home. Time to get in the Word for today. I need to draw near to Him.
Have a blessed day!

MY own Massah (the place of testing) and Meribah (the place of arguing)

Yesterday I worked all day on paper work and documents to go in the dossier we need to send to the Ukraine soon. It is time consuming and very detailed and specific. We believed we were to be honest and let people know we do not have the money to do this adoption, and if it is the will of God for it to happen, He will show us what to do and provide all that is needed. My heart started to grow faint in the afternoon, as I found myself focusing on the $ amount and not on how big our God is. I would like to believe that I won't let the enemy speak to me and cause me to grow weak. I was forced to look at my heart when Matt brought in the mail. There was an envelope for "Krystyna" again. Tonya said she was mailing one she has had since the first announcement of our plans, so I assumed it was that one. I opened it up, and here is what it said:

Dear Linda,
I saw your website and I wanted to do something to help and the help you need (besides prayer) is money. So I've decided to send you some money.
I pray this money will reach you guys in time and that you'll have enough money in time to adopt that girl from the Ukrain!
I know that she'll be in good hands living with the Goodness family, it's all in the name!!
I'll be praying!

I lost it crying. My heart was so blessed that one of the past exchange students I was responsible for years back would take time to show such love for Krystyna and our family. It reminded me that the year this student was with us, I had to rescue a few of them from many areas that were placed in bad situations and came to our region to finish the year. They were such a blessing to our communities. The other reason I was crying was because my head keeps say this is too big an amount, but God keeps saying "Where is your faith in Me?"

Yesterday in the book of Exodus 13:17-18 it says:
When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them on the road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest way from Egypt to the Promised Land. God said, "If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." So God led them along a route through the wilderness toward the Red Sea, and the Israelites left Egypt like a marching army.

This reminded me of when this Scripture last clenched my heart. It lead to our first adoption. God could have taken the people directly to the Promised Land, but He knew they were not ready. He used the wilderness and the trials to strengthen us for His battles in the future. Like Peter, sometimes we think we are ready for anything, until the anything arrives and then our knees buckle and we question our own faith.

Another two verses that have been stuck in my head today are:

Exodus 14:15-16
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving! Use your shepherd's staff--hold it out over the water, and a path will open up before you through the sea."

I guess this is something I will reflect on throughout today to see what it is He wants me to do and know.

Todays verses were all about being shown God's provisions over and over and still the people doubted and questioned and argued. They even would say it would be better to be in slavery in Egypt then to be where God was taking them. Moses continued to seek God and do as he was told, and the LORD said to Moses,

"I will meet you by the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come pouring out. Then the people will be able to drink." Moses did just as he was told; and as the leaders looked on, water gushed out.
Moses named the place Massah--"the place of testing"--and Meribah--"the place of arguing"--because the poeple of Israel argued with Moses and tested the LORD by saying, "Is the LORD going to take care of us or not?"
(Exodus 17:6-7)

I know many times when I have read this section of Exodus I have thought, "How can these people not see God is taking care of them?" And today, I humble myself to a place where I am saying "I am just like them." How can I keep questioning where this money is going to come from. I need to trust that He is going to tell us 'what rock to hit' or whatever He has planned and we just need to obey.

Please pray for me to stand firm in faith, to stay close to the LORD, and believe! Thank you LORD for using Your Word to get me back on track. I pray you keep the enemy away and I glorify you today.

GOD'S Field . . .

Today it is bright and sunny! I love the sun, even if it is a cold day. I was so blessed by the study at church last night, and extremely blessed by the people who approached me and let me know they were praying for Krystyna. It made me think back to a scripture that was really meaningful for our first adoption. I believe that our children belong to God, and He just blesses us and trusts us with the opportunity to love and guide them for a season of time.

1 Corinthians 3:7-9
The ones who do the planting or watering aren't important, but God is important because He is the one who makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work as a team with the same purpose. Yet they will be rewarded individually, according to their own hard work. We work together as partners who belong to God. You (Krystyna) are God's field, God's building - not ours.

We pray we have a "team" of fellow believers who will partner with us to help this precious seed get a chance to grow.

Grace and Peace